A Boring New Year
by Stefohn
Summary: Once again, I am bored. Kind of changes when I video chat with someone I knew nine years ago who I knew by video chat too. And that reunion lead to something I didn't quite expect. Rated T for the words, and for the harsh reality of unmoderated video chat sites.


**I'm just not so sure what to explain about this one, but as I promised fellow writer IrisFB to write a fic about either Christmas/New Year (actually, I promised to write a fic about Christmas, but I got the idea a tad bit too late), I did so, and here are the results. This fanfic, was made especially for her (or him?), and by "her" (or "him") I mean IrisFB. Enjoy, review and rate especially if you think it could be improved, and immerse yourself into the story.**

On December 31in the year 2028 in Caduceus at 11.14 PM, I was bored, yet again. It was almost midnight by this time, and it was worse than the day Markus and I played that game: there were no patients at all that needed my help. Markus and Val were out on a date after I gave them a slight nudge with Elena's help: teasing those two non-stop for a whole month. Good to know they're getting together, since almost everyone who knew them screamed at them to get past the "professional partner" phase they've been trying to keep. Me, though? I haven't had a good love life, if my unrequited love in high school could even be considered one. I'm still staying away from relationships like that, but I mustn't let myself wallow in self-pity.

Well, I could play that game that I played with Markus a week ago.

But the point of playing that game was to bond my friendship with Markus, and thus, if he isn't here right now, there's no point in playing it.

So, where's Elena?

I could strike up a chat with her just to vent off my boredom. I walked out of our office, and looked out the hallway. The hall was empty, and I didn't feel like moving a lot; the nurses' office was just too far from my office.

Kanae and Everett?

Eh, no, just the sight of Everett creeps me out, even if there's Kanae. I have no problem with Kanae, we chat a lot about culture in both Japan and Indonesia, about her personal troubles (I confided my personal issues with her too) and math and statistics since I often help with her brother's assignments as some sort of counselor (his thesis included) at break time. We've been doing those things for quite some time now, so you could say we're pretty close, but Everett is just too much; he's a living chatterbox. Too bad that they share one office.

Thus, now what?

I looked at the window of inspiration once more, hoping desperately to find an answer from looking at the skyline of the city. I only heard the cold air entering from the hallway exhaled generously from the air conditioners there. Combined with the frigid weather in Maryland as it is snowing, I'm slowly letting my sanity go, finding for a way to rekindle the lost flames of happiness in a labyrinth where I have no clues to help me get out. Wait a second. I just got an idea, but I can't wrap my head around it.

Ah... Got it. It's a dangerous one, but it'll do.

You know Omegull? I'm going to go to the video chat section. That was what I meant by "dangerous". More often than not, I would usually find men masturbating in front of the camera, although I don't know why that trend existed, what the purpose of the trend was, and why people on Omegull's video chat section continue to exhibit their genitalia.

I felt compelled to press on regardless of the imminent peril. I typed in my account password, and logged in. Remembering that since the incident involving samurai videos, the game, and cartoon ponies, Irene put a strict website rating system, I would have to get through with a proxy or a virtual private network. A virtual private network takes long to set up, and I'm too lazy, so I dug up a flashdisk from my bag, and inserted it on a port. I smiled rather maniacally, and dragged the proxy browser to the desktop.

Salvation at last.

I opened the browser's control panel and selected a relay ring where my IP address could be changed to an address that would make it seem like my computer connected from a location inside the country whose relay ring I chose. Choosing to go to Germany's, I started the connection. Soon enough, the browser was ready to use, and I typed in " " on the address bar. Okay, so I'm at the site. I went to the video chat section, and clicked the "Start Chat" button. Sure enough, the first time I started the chat, I saw a man masturbating. What the flying fuck. I pressed the Escape button twice, and started a new chat. Now this was a kid masturbating! What the fuck just happened to this rotten world?! I mashed the Escape button twice again, and sighed in shock.

Third time's the charm. The third time should be fine. Come on. Come on, come on! Pressing the button to start a new chat again, I closed my face with my hands, waiting for something good to happen. Come on, third time's the charm, they say.

"Excuse me, why are you closing your face with your hands?"

What? I opened my eyes and looked at the screen slowly. In front of me was a man with rather pale skin, who wore that garb every doctor would usually wear during their shift. Black hair, red eyes... Wait a second. Red eyes? I just remembered something. "Uh, sorry about that." I felt that I just had to confirm it. I started the conversation by saying, "Uh, hey, I feel like I know you somehow." Even after all these years of training my intrapersonal skills as a doctor, I'm basically trash when it comes to striking up a chat with someone; I just didn't excel in the "social skills" department. In other words, when it comes to people I know, they usually consider me one of the craziest around, but when I'm around people I don't, what happens is that I find my mouth, brain, and common sense flushed down the drain. Metaphorically, of course.

The man, who I assumed to be a fellow doctor, just stays silent, as if waiting for me to say something else. "You look like you're a doctor." What did I just say?! I completely strayed off my initial question! Luckily, I think that the person has the same problem I'm having. "Well, yes, I am." He answered, still looking composed, but nervous. I really think I know this guy. I dig my way across my frontal lobe, hoping to gather something that had any relevance to the person sitting on front of the camera, talking to me through a very dangerous chatting site.

...Oh!

"Forgive me if I'm wrong, but if you remember, did you happen to talk to me around nine years ago? A person who looked exactly like you chatted with me on this very same site." He furrowed his eyebrows.

Yes, nine years ago. I remember. There was a guy who looked very similar to him. We chatted for quite some time, probably a few hours. There are too many similarities; this couldn't just be someone who resembled him. This was probably him. I had to confirm.

"I remember that I was chatting with that person while that person was in prison. I'm not going to even ask about how that was possible, but... were you in prison? You look awfully similar to him."

"You weren't wrong. I remember that you and I talked on this site too. About... nanomachines." He answered me, his eyes always so sharp.

To this day I still remember that we talked about: nanomachines. So, I was right all along. My silver tongue immediately jumped out of the sewage system along with some of my brain, and I started spewing out words.

"So, it's been a while. How are you doing anyway? What's happened to you during the nine years? Gotten out of prison?"

He seemed to think about my questions for a short while, before responding, "I was in prison because I was suspected to have orchestrated a bioterrorist attack, although I was exonerated not very long after. Around a year after you talked with me, I was sent to a hospital to perform operations to reduce my sentence. Since the hospital was kind enough to understand my predicament, and since I don't even remember doing it, they sent most of the patients my way."

"Behold the system that can imprison the evil." I retorted with intentional sarcasm.

"You would be right." He sighed after finishing his sentence. I decided to ask about the hospital he works in. "Hey, are you in a hospital right now? It seems like it." He answered, "Yes, this is Resurgam First Care, in Portland."

Resurgam? The name rings a bell. I heard dr. Kimishima went there after she quit as a surgeon. What a waste of fine talent.

"Aren't they putting up a website rating system or something? Or are you using a proxy or something like that?" I just had to ask. He replied, "I'm not using a proxy. The chief is rather lax about things unrelated to our main duty here. Did the chief or director there put one up?" "Yes, she did; yes, she did." I sighed. "Anyway," I continued on, "When I spoke to you then, you seemed like you weren't the type to browse a lot on the Internet. How did you stumble upon this site anyway? This site is quite dangerous."

"You mean the people who masturbate on cam? Yes, I agree that that can be dangerous, but once you find one who doesn't do so, it's usually a long chat between me and them, and it's worth it, in my opinion. Um, how I found this site?" He cupped his chin in thought for a short while. "I was merely browsing."

"I thought you couldn't use the Internet in prison." A groundless assumption, I know, since I've never even been to court or jail, even though I've been around. "As a matter of fact, you can." He replied shortly. "How long did you spend your time in the prison?" I asked him out of pure curiosity.

"Around eight and a half years. It was supposed to be two hundred fifty. I spent eight years there, then was given the opportunity to operate in exchange for the reduction of my sentence in Resurgam. I finished my sentence off when I was still around 114 years away from freedom, but the rest of the team here brought proof to exonerate me from the crime I allegedly committed."

"You must be quite close to your team, for them to help you that way. Other than that, I never knew those options existed in prison, really." I listened in fascination.

"The first time I was discharged to Resurgam, most of the people there were friendly, except for one, who just misunderstood the current condition." He continued explaining his tale to me. "Even then, we had to prevent an outbreak called the Rosalia from spreading outside of Portland. It was exhausting, but fun." I saw him smiling for a short while as he reminisced. I couldn't help but smile along; I knew what it felt like to stop a virus.

"Rosalia? I've heard. It eliminates all viruses but itself in a host, and can create colonies. Pretty horrifying." I accessed some archive entries regarding that, and it showed up in the newspaper for a while. Stopping an outbreak is no easy feat, and although he definitely didn't do it alone, becoming one of the main keys in stopping it is just plain awesome.

This time, he was the one who asked. "You sound like you experienced something similar. Am I right?" I raised an eye. "How did you know?" He merely answered, "An educated guess, from my observation of how you talked."

Wow, he's observant.

"I'm currently at Caduceus in Maryland, and as a member here, I had to handle a man-made virus called Stigma. There were around seven strains. Avoiding the details, the mobility of the strains was crazy. I'm just lucky that two surgeons who I work with are very competent. Nurse is beautiful too!" I laughed after ending the last sentence.

"Speaking of beautiful girls, do you have a girlfriend?" I asked him out of pure mischief, completely changing the topic. Unsurprisingly enough, I could see the blush in his cheeks radiating. Possibilities I thought of: he doesn't have one, or he has one but he's new to the whole experience. I merely chuckled to his reaction. "Well..." He trailed off, looking up. "No, I don't. Do you?"

"I'm in the same boat as you. Haven't bothered to find one, actually."

I saw him give me a surprised look. "That is rather unusual. Why?"

I gave some time for my brain to click in and arrange the things I wanted say in order. A short while after, I said, "I was kind of active in trying to find one during my time in senior high school. I tried to talk about the things happening to Indonesia, and all they could talk about was Korean boybands. Well, not all of them talked like that, but it happened to most of the girls I talked to. I believe that as an a citizen of a country, I should try to know the issues happening in that particular country, and try to contribute with my skills to solve those issues; listening to Korean boybands singing isn't helping me in any way. That was when I decided to avoid talking actively to girls."

He listened intently, his eyes constantly looking at mine. "I agree with you on that one." Hearing that, I said without thinking, "If you actually meant that, then it's good that we both have some sense of nationalism."

Now I asked him, "Speaking of which, have you bothered to try to find one?"

All I heard in return was an "Uh..." for a long while.

"Come on! Cat bit your tongue?" I poked on at him. Teasing other people is fun, you know.

"Hey, kid!" I heard a voice from beside him. A tanned woman who wore a green and yellow jacket ran over to him, where I could see her. "Huh, who's this? You know him?" She looked at me with a rather cynical look, raising an eyebrow. He looked at her and answered, "No, Maria. I don't know who he is, but I chatted with him quite some time ago, and I just met him again through this site."

I said over the cam on my computer, "That's right. We met over this site around nine years ago." I don't know who this Maria is, but she looked like she could be his girlfriend. "She your girlfriend?" I asked him, sniggering. They don't call me "The Matchmaker" for nothing in this hospital. The reaction was something I expected: both of them blushed, even to the point where I could see the blush even on her tanned skin. "Yeah, right! Who would even want to date this stiff-looking guy?!" She even added a "Huh!" while avoiding his gaze, and he just stood silently, following suit with an awkward smile. They lost to my mischief. I added on, "The both of you look like you could be compatible, you know?" Man, these people are too gullible.

I didn't even realize Kanae was walking up to me until it was too late. "Who are they?"

"Uh!" Oh crap.

"And who is she? Your girlfriend?" This time, the woman I observed to be Maria sniggered at me. Damn it, she managed to get back at me. "Hey!" Kanae is definitely not my girlfriend. "She is NOT my girlfriend!" I think Kanae looked slightly offended. She should be, since the accusations were groundless, and wrong.

Before the woman identified as Maria could do any more damage, I heard a voice over at their cam shout, "Maria! It's almost time for the countdown!" Lucky me.

"Crap! Come on, kid, we need to get to Chief's office!" She took his hand, both running out of their camera's line of sight. Ah, I forgot to ask his name. How stupid can I be?

Looking at the time, I saw that there was around fifteen seconds before the new year, and unluckily, I'm still stuck here. I turned to ask Kanae, and asked, "What brings you here, Kanae? Sorry you had to see that."

Kanae adjusted her glasses.

"10!" I heard the voice come from their camera that they left without turning off.

Ignoring them, I stood up and looked at Kanae.

"9!"

"So, I guess we're going to be spending our new year here without a clue on what to do."

"8!" The voices there were getting louder than ever.

"I was slightly mad earlier." Kanae, as if ignoring what I just said earlier, stated.

"7!"

"About what?" I asked her.

"6!"

She just stood silent. Offended about what?

"5!"

"About what, Kanae?"

"4!"

I still didn't understand

"3!"

"About this." She stepped closer to me.

"2!"

What was she...?

"1!"

Her face was dangerously close to mine.

"Happy New Year!"

Kanae held my hand and kissed my cheek slowly, but lightly. As I felt her lips embrace my cheek, I came to realize: she wasn't offended by that Maria's suggestion. She was offended by what I said: that she wasn't my significant other. I knew that we were quite close and all, but to think I was too blind to see the signs! Why would a she even come to my office at almost midnight when there were no assignments? I knew there was something off, but I didn't know it came to this.

I can't let this opportunity go. We're too close now. I hate to admit it, but lately, each time I talk to her, I stutter, get nervous, and don't know what to say. Then, I thought she didn't notice, but now I know she did.

For the first time in years, I'm in love. I had a negative outlook on it ever since senior high school since I got rejected quite a lot of times, and I cased myself in a frigid shell of ice, rejecting that particular kind of love and looking down on it. But I guess I can't fool myself now, can I?

She lets go of my hand, and pulls back, and turns to walk out of my office. But this time, no, I'm not letting go of her. My right hand bolts out and grabs her shoulder. She looks at me, surprised, and unable to say anything. I grabbed my handphone, and set the timer to 10 seconds. "Kanae, let's count down again, shall we?" I held both of her hands this time. "F-for what?" It's cute when she stutters, honestly saying. "Come on, just do it with me all right?" She stood silent, but she didn't move, so I took it as a "yes". We started to count down.

"10." She started to blush.

"9." I merely gave her a smile.

"8." We waited.

"7." Wait. I'm so stupid, I forgot to plan what to do next.

"6." I just acted out of pure instinct!

"5." I looked at the window again.

"4." I saw Markus and Valerie outside, hand in hand, outside the hospital.

"3." That's when it hit me.

"2." I have an idea.

"1." Both of us said in unison. Kanae was saying, "Happy New Y—" until I cut her off by slightly pushing her forehead with a finger. I said, "Not that, dumbass."

I said to myself, _here goes_.

**I'll leave it to your imagination to conclude what happened next.**


End file.
